lazer

I went to order my 16 the other day and found out there are no local auto body shops that are qualified to do work on the aluminum F-150. I didn't order the truck. I am still looking but this is a serious issue and I'll just not get a new truck if there is not someone close by in case I get a fender bender or need body work for some reason. The body shop I have used in the past said that it takes about 28K worth of new equipment and a separate painting booth to do these trucks. He is not committing yet to do this process.

RACER X

Where you buying from? They prob fix alu

Rambo 2

Post your zip code.

lazer

No, the dealers in my area are very small and don't have body repair shops.

lazer

12748

T_R

Worse case you take it to a body shop a few hours away if something happens. How often do you crash cars? I can't see this as a reason not to purchase.

hunter306

Devils Advocate, seems like you might find a nice steely 14' which is still going to be a great truck.. Buddy has one of the Fx4's from that gen and he seems to like it =)

Takeda

British cars (Jaguar, Rolls Royce, Rover, Bentley, etc.) have had aluminum bodies for many, many years! There are body shops for these vehicles, and I'm sure the F-150 would be no problem for them.

21RRF150

iTrader: (1)

You don't need a separate paint booth. Paint is the same for aluminum. The shop I worked in just put a curtain around a bay in the shop for the aluminum welding/grinding/sanding etc. Boom done.

lanky

I spoke with a local body shop about this a couple of months ago, Ford is very particular about this. Not only are they to spend the money on specialty equipment upgrades, they need to have a dedicated bay for working on aluminum vehicles. This means they lose 15% of their capacity when they do not have aluminum vehicles to work on. This is a requirement to be an authorized factory repair facility.
It's going to get even more complicated as other manufacturers get their aluminum bodies online.